Why is social networking a one way street?

Why is social networking a one way street? I find that every group I have joined, wants to connect with me and then completely ignores me or wants me to promote them but doesn't even bother to remember who I am. I think people use it more to personally keep in contact as suppose to network for business. This isn't what social networking for business is all about.

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Social Media is all about creating relationships with people. It starts with
an open and fun personality that people resonate with. We all start off not
knowing anyone... you watch their posts, and you feel a connection with
people. You respond back, and the relationship builds.

To be super at networking, you need to pay attention to what conversations
are going on, and if you have something to add, add it.

I do not believe people ignore people intentionally. You just need a way to
grab their attention, in a way that "speaks" to them.

While there are certainly some groups out there that lack serious follow through skills, there are some very active groups that share information and resources regularly. It all depends on your niche and what your groups raison d'etre or reason for being is. If its a group built around promotion of a product or service don't expect much of a two way dialogue. In my opinion, this is where most brands/Companies miss the boat.

I'd ask the question directly. Have you tried emailing some of the group administrators? What was their reaction? Find out who's running the group and share with them some feedback. That's what Social Network Marketing is all about anyway

Becasue most Social Media use is not rooted in the principles of "genuine networking". They are really just using social media as another "marketing" medium. Of course, this is based on my definition of networking which is to establish relationships, add value and ask for nothing in return.

It does not have to be. It depends on the company and the owners true philosophy. We believe in win / win at all cost. My entire company is the creation of mutual partnerships and alliances that allow everyone to win. Take for instance the fact that one of our services involves tweets to our 250,000 followers. If we asked you to do that we would not be respectful of your time so we offer to do it for you as part of our service so that you can focus on your core business. I have been looking for people who share the same service 1st philosophy and it has been a struggle. I don't think there are bad businesses just bad business practices so it would be helpful if people would just be honest and say "I can't afford to help you until I help myself but I will commit to help you help me and vice versa". Building an online business can be a 24x7 task but if you are leveraging the resources correctly you should not have to do that.

Let me know if you want to brainstrom on ideas and ways to generate more clientale for the both of us.

I think social networking becomes a two way street when both parties are willing to really "work it". You may try following up on connection requests with questions about the initiator's business, target audience, what works for them, etc. Try to get some dialogue going.

Melody, you may be asking a bit much. Networking is work. It takes time. It is not an advertising bulletin board. Participate, let yourself be known, and it will work. It is not a silver bullet!
Michael G Murray
Chief Solution Providerwww.yourvirtualbookkeepers.com

I understand how you may be feeling, but remember you have to put something into it as well. Do you have your own groups, or sites, are you directing people to what you offer? I will be honest with you, I belong to numerous ning and facebook groups, but unless the group sends me information, chances are I am not visiting those sites to see whats going on. In terms of my own sites, I try to constantly put information out to members who have joined. Your post doesn't really tell us what you are looking to gain from your interactions.

Melody it is not about you,they must be ignoring all the members.People create groups and then do anything about them.If no message is ever sent to any group member then the group is most useless and serves no purpose.Twitter and facebook have so many applications,but in facebook I haven't found any which says if the group has been inactive for n number of days or months,let me automatically unjoin.I just found an application related to twitter which allowed me to unclutter,hopefully as time goes by we will have applications which will weed out groups which are redundant.The groups which are active I am sure are very grateful that you are a member and reading the messages they send to your inbox.

I think that if you are engaged in some discussions, as I am on LinkedIn, it's "easy" to get good relationships with a few members. Through LinkedIn I have got good relationships with some artists and a good friendship with a guy in Texas. It all depends on you and how you make it. If you just sit and don't make any efforts in getting relationships, you will not get any. Then you may say that social networking is a one way street. For me it is not as it works good with the people I want to have relations to.